15 Terrifying Facts About the Skinwalker Legend

Beware a stolen face...

Skinwalkers, evil shapeshifters, are a mainstay in Navajo tradition and legend. Although the Navajo tend to keep their culture to themselves—and indeed consider it dangerous to speak openly about the mythical creatures with outsiders—some of the eeriest facts about skinwalkers have managed to creep out into the culture at large. These are some of the freakiest skinwalker facts we found.

1. Skinwalkers are actually known as witches in Navajo culture, and they used to be humans.

2. Yeah, they want your face, some traditions suggest they'll steal your very skin. Skinwalkers can transform into any kind of animal. Including you.

3. Don’t even think about looking at a skinwalker in the eyes. That’s how they absorb themselves into your body and then control your every move.

13. So you want to become a skinwalker … there are many different theories on how they come to be, but the most prevalent speaks of an official ceremony where people become skinwalkers through a gathering with specific charms and chants.

14. One of the ritual acts to become a skinwalker involves killing, and then eating, someone close to them. By performing this act, the soon-to-be skinwalkers lose any humanity left in them. Beware: once you’re a skinwalker, you can’t undo it.

15. If you can get past their endurance, shape-shifting abilities, and possible coven, it’s said that you can kill a skinwalker by calling them by their true, pre-skinwalker name.